The Connection Complete
by pokemon fan 98
Summary: "Circumstances knit themselves, fit themselves, shot into order… the connection complete" (Charlotte Bronte). AKA, moments we don't get to see in the episodes of season 6.
1. Missing Pieces

_A/N: Hey guys! This story will fill in any scenes we don't get to see in the episodes. It could be a little moment for one character, or a conversation, or maybe something bigger. It's not meant to be speculation for future episodes. Each chapter will contain moments that could have happened within the episode it pertains to. So here we go!_

_Episode 1: Missing Pieces_

-0-

**Growth**

Daisy tightens her grip on the rope that suspends the alien, watching as Jemma terrifies him to his core. Jemma's calm analysis of how he could die in this position, paired with the physical threat Daisy poses, has him shaking, and Daisy is proud. All the effort she's put into training in the past year, honing her abilities and letting the world know that she can use them effortlessly, has paid off.

It takes a few minutes to prepare, once they find out that the other half of Enoch's ship isn't far. Daisy watches Jemma, Piper, and Davis go to grab supplies, and deals with the alien herself. She releases the rope and lets him fall to the floor, moving toward him with slow steps. He scrambles upright, angry but mostly afraid.

"Get us that fuel," Daisy says.

He nods and runs out.

She waits until the door has closed behind him to let herself start to smile. Her reputation as Quake has definitely spread, if this alien is so easily intimidated. She hadn't even seriously fought him.

She flexes her fingers, looking down at her arms. A display like before – dismantling their guns without really raising her hands – doesn't cause any harm. It takes a lot to make her feel pain like she used to, before she had her gauntlets. So much that she's only truly felt the impact of her powers once, since the serum gave them a boost. That time had been a desperate escape attempt, and she'd been unable to move her arms for hours afterward. The ship that had been following them was probably still in pieces too small to put back together. She could never have done a feat like that before her powerup.

Now, though, she can do so much intuitively. It leaves her almost constantly on guard, as she knows she can destroy something with minimal thought.

It's worth it, she thinks. She can protect her family now more than she ever could in the past. Contrary to popular belief, she doesn't just want to be seen as a badass. She wants the universe to know she _will _fight anyone and everyone to keep her family safe, so that maybe, she won't actually _have to._

That's always been her goal. Only now, if it does come to a fight, she's grown with her powers enough to overcome any threat – consequences to her body be damned.

-0-

**Different**

Mack watches May walk out of his office and leans against his desk. He's a different kind of director, she'd said, and that wasn't a bad thing. But…

"Am I too different?" he asks aloud.

Things seem to be going well. S.H.I.E.L.D. is slowly rebuilding. It could be faster, but Mack is double-checking everything. He's going to make sure there's no chance of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. being infiltrated, by HYDRA or any other threat. He's pretty sure that Coulson would have approved of how methodical he's being, vetting all the new recruits. The fact that May was so quick to help him makes him sure it's the right call. But other things he's started since becoming Director… he's not sure if they're better for the organization or not. He likes to think so, but he can't be sure.

He wishes Coulson could have taught him more. Yes, Mack has the Toolbox. Yes, he got to see Coulson be a fantastic Director for a few years. But maybe if he had gotten to ask him some questions, Mack wouldn't feel like every decision he made was make or break.

He puts a finger on the Toolbox and sees the Coulson holo standing in front of him, paused from earlier.

"I'll never be the leader you were," Mack says, as if the holo can understand him. "We're too different. But May's right. I can't keep leading the way I want, then questioning it and turning to you."

He sighs. He can't stop looking to the holo for advice. He wants it, and thinks he can use it. But he does have to stop trying to be two directors at once. His style of leadership is different than Coulson's was.

Different doesn't mean worse.

He turns off the holo, setting the Toolbox back in its place. He's got work to do.

-0-

**Risk**

They've all done it before – taking a risk that the majority deemed too great, to fight for something that they can't face the possibility of losing. Forcing the others to go along with them, because their actions affect everyone.

They've all taken risks like that before. Yo-Yo had gone into the Framework to get Mack. Fitz had dived through a portal to Maveth to save her. Daisy had refused to take the serum before fighting Graviton – Coulson had ensured that she had access to it and ultimately did take it, but her intent was there all the same. More recently, and repeatedly, Daisy had been leaving destruction behind wherever they stopped, to send a message to the universe that Quake was a force to be reckoned with. Piper and Davis agreed with Jemma that it was too strong of a message, but Daisy felt it was important. Eventually, they accepted it, though they still didn't like it.

Jemma knows this is a different kind of risk, as she enters the coordinates to the planet she believes – no, she knows – Fitz is on. The others were painfully clear on the fact that they wouldn't let her chase down this lead. They want to go home.

She wants the same thing.

She's not letting this trail go cold. She knows Fitz is on that planet. She also knows he'll be trying to find a way to get back to her. She has to find him now.

They'll forgive her, she thinks as she finishes inputting the coordinates. They think it's too dangerous to go that deep, but she knows it's not. The Zephyr can handle the trip there, and the trip back to Earth after.

Still, she knows they won't understand at first. She looks over her shoulder to make sure they haven't seen her at the controls, fearing being caught. She isn't caught, though. She walks away, and the team is none the wiser as to what she's done.

The opportunity to make the jump comes around faster than she anticipates, and she makes sure she's the first one to reach the controls.

She can see it in Daisy's eyes, when she tells Daisy that the coordinates are already set, that Daisy doesn't view this as just another risk. She views it as a betrayal.

"I'm sorry," Jemma says quietly.

She'll probably be saying it a lot, in the next few days, but she doesn't regret setting those coordinates as she starts the jump.

It's not a risk. It's the only way to get them _all_ home.


	2. Window of Opportunity

_Missing moments from Episode 2: Window of Opportunity_

_-0-_

**Doppelganger**

Her gaze travels up from the feet that are walking away, the sight slightly blurry from the explosion. When her eyes reach his face, she thinks she must have hit her head. He looks just like Coulson.

She blinks hard, trying to make her vision go back to normal, and looks again. His appearance hasn't changed. And she knows she didn't hit her head hard enough to be seeing things. He barely looks at them before leaving with the woman, and by the time May is standing, they are gone.

She faces Mack in his office now, telling him about the explosion and the mysterious perpetrators. She hasn't mentioned this yet, though she knows she has to.

"This is going to sound crazy," she says, not looking at him, "but the one that killed Agent Fox? He looked like Coulson."

Mack stops looking at Fox's file, fixing her with his full attention. "How do you mean?"

She clenches her teeth at the mess of emotions in her blood. She doesn't have time to go back to that sad place, or let anger cloud everything. She has to keep her head. "I mean, he looked like Phil Coulson."

Mack's voice is gentle. "Are you sure? You said yourself the explosion made everyone a little disoriented -."

"It was him," she says stubbornly, as she fails to restrain the emotions she's locked away, and rage kindles inside her. It all seems like a sick joke. "Not our Coulson, but definitely something or someone that looks exactly like him."

She's staring Mack in the eyes, daring him to question her further. She knows what she saw. She may not know what kind of creature it was, but she knows it looked like _him._

Mack doesn't seem as skeptical, maybe because he knows she would never lie about something like this. Coulson is a topic the two of them talk about only rarely. "Did anyone else get eyes on him?"

She swallows. "Agent Fox."

She doesn't mean it to hurt him, but she sees Mack flinch at the reminder of the young agent they've just lost. "And did you tell anyone else? Yo-Yo?"

"I thought you should know first."

He nods, and she can see the weight of responsibility settling on his shoulders. "You did the right thing."

She knows he needs time to process before he can make any decisions about this information. She needs time too. She also doesn't want there to be time. She wants to go out there, find the imposter wearing Coulson's face, and demand to know who or what he is.

She settles with finding a punching back and going all at it for the moment. She'll get her chance. She can give Mack a chance to do something before taking care of it herself.

-0-

**Eyes**

Fitz doesn't like anything about this situation. Well, maybe one thing: he doesn't have to keep injecting himself with that drug to change his irises. He hated doing that so often. Of course, doing it had seemed a small price to pay as he received transport to Kitson. He has to get there, so he can refreeze himself and get to Jemma.

He knows they're close to the planet, but he doesn't trust The Collector. Once Fitz has finished repairing the airlock, he fully expects The Collector to chuck him outside it and never look back.

Fitz can't let that happen.

He'll try to appeal to The Collector again. He'll try to convince him to be reasonable, and decent.

He's about halfway through fixing the airlock when he realizes what's going to happen. He's told The Collector that his crew is unproductive. Doing this, he's proving it to be a fact. Concern for their safety floods through him.

_Don't worry about them,_ a part of him says. _They turned you in. None of this would have happened if not for them._

It's true. Yet he knows The Collector isn't a decent individual. He knows his appeals for himself will fall on deaf ears, and he realizes that he has, however unwittingly, given The Collector the smallest reason the man needs to dispose of his crew. And Fitz knows The Collector will use that reasoning, and get rid of them.

They turned him in, putting him in danger. Now he's gone and put them in danger. Sacrificing them in place of himself, he thinks in self-disgust.

He imagines Jemma's face when she learns about this, and his hand stops over the wiring. He remembers her expression, in their final moments in the Framework, all too clearly. It's been months, but that's been one of the images that periodically haunts his sleep. He can't bear to see that disappointment in her eyes again. If he fixes this, and The Collector doesn't try sending him to die in space, The Collector will still kill the crew, and he'll see that same look. Unless he changes the wiring, and, potentially, the crews' fates.

It's risky. Enoch won't like it. But if it works – if it works, he'll still be able to meet Jemma's eyes, when he finds her. He won't see that disappointment, and he won't feel it in himself. He'll be able to look at her with no new stains to his character.

That's how he knows he has to do it.

-0-

_A/N: There's another moment I seriously debated writing for this chapter. In May's final scene of the episode, after her fight with Sarge's crew, she faces the others and says "I lost." You know there's an important conversation there. But I don't know if episode three will show that conversation, so until the third episode airs, I can't classify it as a missing moment. May's fight was epic, though! It was a great scene for her._

_If you think of any moments you wanted to see during an episode, let me know and I can try writing them. I'm going to update on Tuesday/Wednesday each week, to give myself time to think of more moments as well._

_Let me know what you think!_


	3. on the Planet of Kitson

_A/N: This episode was fantastic! I don't really think there were many 'missing moments,' aside from maybe a little more on the confrontation within the space team (Simmons seemed ready to fight Daisy, and Piper and Davis were not happy with Simmons... the rest of the episode was pretty light, but I'm sure the space team will still have some issues to work out in the coming episodes). So I only have one scene for you from episode 3: Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson. Enjoy._

-0-

**Trust**

Daisy can tell from the moment she regains consciousness that there is still division within the team. Jemma is leaning over Daisy, to check on her, and Daisy can see Piper casting Jemma a hard stare.

"Are you alright?" Jemma asks.

"Yeah, fine," Daisy says, getting to her feet. "Where's the guy that stunned us?"

"Tied him up," Davis supplies. "The other one's here too, but he's not restrained. Thought you might want to question them both."

Jemma moves as if to check on Piper, and the agent holds up a hand to stop her. "I'm fine."

Jemma's expression doesn't change, but Daisy knows she feels the dismissal from Piper. "Okay, Simmons and I will question the stunner. Piper, Davis, see what information you can find about Kitson."

Once they're in the hallway, away from Piper and Davis, Daisy touches Jemma's arm to stop her from moving. "We need to talk about what happened back there," she says quietly.

"The part where everyone wanted to throw me in the brig?" Jemma asks with a false little smile.

Daisy sighs. "I don't want to do that, and neither do Piper and Davis."

Jemma scoffs. "You may not, but they certainly do."

"You need to apologize to them, after. We can't afford to be fighting amongst ourselves."

Jemma looks at her levelly, and Daisy knows Jemma doesn't think there's anything to apologize for. Daisy is kind of torn on that herself, because Jemma had been right: Fitz is the mission. But Jemma had also acted beyond her authority. While Daisy doesn't mind much in this case, she can't let this act change the team dynamic.

"Come on," Daisy says, when neither of them looks to be backing down. "Let's find out what this guy knows."

She sees the renewed hope in Jemma's eyes, when the Hunter tells them he's actively looking for Fitz, and leaves Jemma with him as she goes to talk to the one who 'doesn't make the rules but has to follow them.'

As she kind of expects, Piper is waiting for her. "Where's Simmons?"

"Getting more information from that creep."

Piper looks behind her, as if to make sure Simmons isn't going to sneak up on them. "So, are we getting out of here? Going home?"

"Not just yet. We're already here," Daisy says, "and Simmons may be onto something -."

Piper is shaking her head. "This isn't fair, Daisy. Not to me, and not to Davis, and you're not doing Simmons any good by going along with her search for a needle in a haystack."

"Piper, I hear you, I really do. We're going back home right after -."

Piper backs away, frustrated and not meeting Daisy's eyes. "I'll be looking over what little stores we have left if you need me."

Daisy closes her eyes as Piper leaves, taking a breath to calm herself. She isn't just making excuses. She fully plans on going home, if there's no sign of Fitz on this planet: even if she does have to force Jemma to come with them. But she owes it to both Jemma and Fitz to fully investigate Kitson, since Jemma already made the Zephyr jump here. The others don't trust each other much. She just hopes everyone trusts _her_ enough to do what needs to be done.


	4. Code Yellow

_Missing moments from Episode 4: Code Yellow._

-0-

**Compromised**

Mack sits down heavily as Keller walks out of his office. He'd known this conversation was coming. He vetted Keller with May, and part of the reason Mack thinks Keller is a good agent is his loyalty. It was easier to pretend Keller and Yo-Yo weren't a couple, though. Now, there's no plausible deniability. Keller has made it real that Elena has started moving on.

Mack wishes he could go back to about a year ago. The weeks surrounding their final fight with Graviton, while stressful and, afterwards, overwhelmed with a sense of loss, had also been the last time he'd felt content. He remembers holding on to Elena in the hallway right after losing Fitz, and Elena comforting him the night Coulson and May left. More importantly, he remembers realizing that he will do anything to protect his family, and that, as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he can't afford to do _anything _for them. He has to make the tough calls. He has to be willing to lose people – even the ones he loves.

His love for the team he'd been with for years is dangerous. His love for Elena is even more so, which is why he tries to keep his distance. He has to treat everyone the same, and it's killing him, but if he lets himself be happy… he'll be compromised.

"I just saw Keller walking out," May says, standing in the doorway. "Something wrong?"

Mack looks up at her. "He wanted to tell me."

He sees her understanding as she steps into the office. "You okay?" she asks, a little quieter.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't have to pretend with me."

He meets her steady gaze and sighs. "Okay, I'm a little less than fine. So cheer me up; tell me you have a lead on the fake Coulson."

He can see the reluctance to let the subject change in her eyes, but he can't talk about this now. Talking about it won't change anything. It's best if he just stays busy and does what the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to: keep people safe, without letting anything – or anyone – compromise that duty.

Even if he suspects that, when the time for a tough call comes, it won't be any easier to not favor Elena than if he were still in a relationship with her.

-0-

**Worry**

"Is Daisy coming? Or Simmons?"

The familiar members of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team don't answer him as they disembark from the plane, and Deke plasters on a smile.

"Yeah, you're right guys! I can handle this myself!"

Once they're fully out of earshot, and obviously not looking back, he lets the fake smile slide off his face. All this time thinking he'd distanced himself from S.H.I.E.L.D., to find people who didn't know he was a relic from an altered future, and the person he thinks wants to be his first friend is really an agent tasked with babysitting him. It makes him wonder how much of the friendship is real.

He looks quickly at the one agent left with him on the plane. It does seem like S.H.I.E.L.D. has grown. He hasn't had any contact with the old team since before they defeated Graviton. "You wouldn't want to catch me up, would you?" he asks the lone agent. "Give me an overview of major events? Sparknotes? I know what that is now, and I have to say it's a fantastic study tool." He stops himself, aware that he's starting to ramble. "Where are the others?" he asks. That's what he cares about.

"Which others do you mean?"

Daisy is the first one in his mind, but he asks about Coulson. "Some guy was pretending to be Coulson. Where's the real one?"

"Director Coulson died."

Deke looks at the ramp of the plane. He's been expecting this, but it still comes as a blow. How had the team taken his death? May seems okay. How is Daisy? And Fitz and Simmons? He thinks it's weird Daisy isn't on this mission, but maybe she's doing something with the scientists back at whatever base they have. Or maybe she's on a different mission entirely, with Yo-Yo.

"Did they ever… did they ever mention me?" he asks with his back still turned.

"No."

The guy doesn't say it harshly, but Deke hears it that way. He wonders if they've missed him at all. He expects Fitz and Simmons have, but they're practically obligated to. They're family. They've probably mentioned him enough for Daisy to think of him from time to time. This agent just isn't in their inner circle.

Still, Deke feels a little seed of worry form inside him. They are all okay, right? He can't ask this agent. He'll have to check with Mack and May.


	5. The Other Thing

_Moments from Episode 5: The Other Thing._

-0-

**Leaving**

It takes more of Daisy's effort than she'd care to admit to stand there and let Jemma become a captive. In every scenario she imagined finding Fitz, it never occurred to her that she might leave both Jemma and Fitz behind as she returned to Earth. Yet here she is, watching her best friend walk away. Every instinct she has tells her this is a bad idea. Unfortunately, she can't think of a better one, and she knows Jemma won't risk losing Fitz again. It's ultimately Jemma's call.

Jemma is almost gone from view when Daisy abruptly turns and starts walking away. Piper and Davis move quickly.

They don't speak until they're safely on the Zephyr, and then Piper steps forward. "So what's the plan?"

"We go home," Davis says. "Right Daisy?"

Daisy looks at the controls. They have enough fuel for one more jump. "Set the coordinates for the Lighthouse," she orders. "If we try anything, it only puts Fitz and Simmons in more danger."

She grabs the handle as Piper enters the coordinates, knowing they'll be home in a matter of minutes once they've made the jump. It's not until they're flying in Earth's atmosphere that a sense of despair seems to settle over her. Because she's not just considering leaving Fitz and Jemma anymore.

When they reach the Lighthouse and embrace the others, they've already left them behind.

-0-

**Blind**

Fitz turns to his captor the instant the holographic feed cuts out. "Bring them back!"

His captor levels the gun at him, and Fitz stills. "You need me for something," he says. "I wouldn't still be alive if you didn't need me, right? So why are they here?"

He doesn't get an answer, and his captor suddenly lowers his gun. Fitz knows Jemma and Daisy must be talking to the woman. He has a bad feeling.

"I'll do what you want, as long as you don't hurt them." Fitz says. "Okay?"

His captor starts moving to leave the cell, and Fitz jumps on him from behind. In hindsight, it's a mistake, but his need to get to Jemma, to keep her safe, overrides everything else. The man stumbles from Fitz's full weight, then straightens with force, throwing Fitz backward. Fitz hasn't had a chance to recover before the massive gun is slammed into his stomach again, and as he tries to regain the breath that's just been knocked from his body, his captor slips out the door.

Fitz slams a fist on the floor before he stands, looking at the cell with a new energy. He's looked at it for weaknesses since being put in it, but knowing that Jemma is close makes him desperate to find some way out.

He hates that he can't see them anymore. It had been annoying not to hear them, but at least while he'd had eyes on Jemma, he'd known she was alright. If his captor had rushed out like that, Daisy was probably fighting. And if Daisy was fighting, Jemma was too.

He pores over every inch of his cell and gets nowhere, his anxiety climbing with every minute he's deprived of knowing if she's alive.


	6. Inescapable

**Episode 6: Inescapable **

I loved this episode so much I didn't really think of any missing moments.


	7. Toldja

_A missing moment from episode 7: Toldja. All I can say is poor Deke, being kept in the dark so long._

-0-

**Found**

"The important thing is we found Fitz."

The words seem to take time to settle over Deke. "What do you mean, you found Fitz?"

Daisy falters even more than before. "Deke -."

"Did you lose him? How could Simmons let that happen? _How_ did it happen?"

He can see that Daisy doesn't want to tell him something, and it makes him feel like ants are crawling all over him, spreading fear everywhere they go. She's trying to think of a way to break some news to him, but she's taking too long.

"Just tell me the truth."

She does. "I didn't go into space with Fitz and Simmons. I went with Simmons, to try and find Fitz."

He's trying to reason through it, but something isn't making sense. "Why would you need to find him?"

He's surprised by the pain that suddenly appears in her eyes. "Because the Fitz that saved us in the future died."

The ants stop crawling over his body as he freezes. His mouth opens in shock. "Fitz… but…"

"A building collapsed when we were fighting Graviton. Fitz didn't make it. Simmons realized there was still a version of him here when we came back from the future. He was cryogenically frozen. Simmons and I went to find him and wake him up, and bring him home."

Deke hears everything, but he isn't looking at Daisy anymore. He's staring, mostly unseeing, thinking of the last time he'd seen Fitz. It had been right before the team had gone to fight Graviton. He had hugged Fitz quickly, as the man started walking away, but he hadn't thought it would be the last time he would see his grandpa.

"Like I said, we found Fitz," Daisy says, in a gentler tone. "Simmons is with him. They'll be okay."

It's good to know this, but now that Deke's initial shock is fading, he's too angry to appreciate that his grandparents are alright. He's spent the last year thinking they were off exploring the cosmos. It turns out they were, but not at all in the way he'd imagined.

"Where's Mack?" Deke demands.

"Uh, I don't know. Why?"

Deke feels his breath becoming faster. "We need to talk about why he didn't tell me my grandpa had DIED!"

Daisy flinches slightly as his remark becomes a shout, and shame floods through Deke. He's not mad at her. He doesn't apologize though. He turns and storms out, searching for Mack. With how angry and betrayed he feels right now, it's best if he doesn't try to talk to Daisy. He might say something he doesn't mean.


	8. Collision Course (Part 1)

_A/N: Here are two moments from Episode 8: Collision Course (Part 1). The first is an add-on. The second is sort of a continuation of one of the talks Fitz and Simmons have._

-0-

**Things**

May knows it isn't the reunion Daisy has been thinking of, but May takes the five minutes they have in the hallway of the Lighthouse to greet her. It's been a long time since she's seen Daisy. Though they don't have free time to talk and catch up, May has to make sure the girl is alright before they board the bus with Sarge.

May is still messed up from the whole Sarge and Coulson thing, and she's had a bit of time to attempt to process it. Daisy has had zero chance of that.

"Daisy," May says, stopping the girl from walking further.

"We need to check out the bus, make sure there aren't booby traps or something."

"It can wait a minute. How are you?"

Daisy sighs. "Things are crazy right now. Fitz-Simmons are prisoners in space, evil aliens are trying to destroy the planet -."

"I know how _things_ are," May interrupts. "How are _you_?"

She can see Daisy shedding her imaginary armor, and once she does, the pain in her expression is clear. "I'm struggling, May."

May lets out a breath, hating to see the girl in pain but relieved that Daisy is opening up to her. "I'd be worried if you weren't."

"How can he have Coulson's face?"

"I don't know."

Daisy just stares at her for a few seconds, and then the girl moves forward to hug May. It's a quick embrace, but it leaves May feeling a little better.

"We can talk more after we stop the Shrike. When we're moving to find Fitz and Simmons."

May nods and walks with her to Sarge's bus.

-0-

**Cautious**

"Why were you being so dodgy when Izel asked about the monoliths?" Fitz asks.

Jemma glances behind her, slightly paranoid. "We know very little about our rescuer," she says in a low voice. "I don't want to seem paranoid -."

"But it's safest to be paranoid, in our line of work," Fitz finishes. He nods. "I know."

Jemma looks around again. "Let's just be careful what we say around her, yeah?"

"You don't have to tell me twice." He smiles ruefully. "How her people could care about those monoliths escapes me. I hate the lot of them."

Jemma agrees whole-heartedly. "Those monoliths only did one good thing for us, and that was providing the site for our wedding."

"I don't know what the third monolith did, but I could've done without the two monoliths that took you," Fitz says. "That is two, by the way. You were moved through time and space."

She's never thought about it that reasonably. "You moved through both monoliths too," she reminds him.

He scoffs. "By choice. You were swallowed by both. Separately!"

She's surprised, but she's able to laugh about it. "Yet you were the paradox."

Her teasing smile fades slightly as she sees the flash of sorrow in his eyes. He's thinking of everything he missed.

"Hopefully we'll be back at the Lighthouse soon," she tells him, brightening her tone. "Daisy will be so happy to see you. Everyone will."

Fitz nods again. "It'll be good to be back on Earth."


End file.
